Perfect World

Original post date 13/07/07 19:36

I installed Perfect World a few months ago but didn't play on it for very long as I was too absorbed in Shaiya (my favourite MMORPG so far). A couple of days ago I decided to give it another try though and BOY am I enjoying myself.
I have two characters: a venomancer capable of taming beasts and turning into a fox; and a winged elf who, as the name indicates, has wings and is therefore capable of flight right from the beginning of the game.
Both characters were at level 4 when I started playing again and now my winged elf is at level 9. She would have advanced more quickly but I've been siphoning her experience off to allow my genie to grow.

Of Flight and Faeries

The thing that I currently like the most about Perfect World (and is unlikely to change, I think) is the flying. As I said, winged elves are capable of flight right from the start, and the other classes can eventually fly by purchasing flying mounts at level 30 which is when a winged elf can trade up her wings for a faster, more impressive pair. Until this morning unfurling my wings and taking to the sky didn't make me any faster than I am on foor. Even so, being able to safely pass over enemies and not having the problem of navigating around mountains or between trees does cut some time off your journey. Now, because I've reached a certain level of spiritual 'cultivation', I've been able to upgrade my wing speed by 20%. It might not sound like much but it certainly is noticeable on long journeys.

 
Here's a screenshot of my character hovering in front of a rather fantastic sunset which I just happened to stumble upon during a joyflight. In the picture you can also see my genie, a small faerie-like companion who'll be given to you a few levels into the game. While I have been giving her some of my exp to keep her level parallel with mine I haven't invested in any new skills for her yet so, while she does have a starting skill which brings down the movement speed of an enemy and increases mine, right now she's mainly an aesthetically pleasing bonus.

There's quite a bit of variety in genies, with more than just my vulgarly-pink breed flitting around after their owners. I think the allocation of genies must be random as I've seen other colours (silver, green and yellow so far) following players of similarly low level. I would assume that the different colours also have different skills and names to match. Mine is called Infliction which I'm just realising might mean that she's status-effect orientated...and I'm now regretting putting all her stat points into damage rather than status-effect success. Oh well.

A recently-spotted green genie.

Character Customisation

My first screenshot also shows the rather wonderful results that can be achieved using the customisation option when creating a character. I went for a realistic look as I wanted my character to look like me. Playing with the many, many sliders and buttons that you are given though, you are free to create anything from girl next door to black-lipsticked goth, blue skinned water nymph to cute ginger kitty-cat, muscle-bound hunk to a pretty boy with an emo haircut.

Health and Mana

As with just about every other RPG in the book, your actions in Perfect World are dependent on your levels of health (HP) and mana (MP).  The MP that is consumed every time you cast a spell and the HP that you lose from getting mauled by monsters, is automatically recharged whenever you are not in combat.  If you’re a cleric though you may still want to use healing spells as the HP/MP regeneration process is slow and gradual.  For non-healer classes, or for healers who are running low on MP with which to cast healing spells, Perfect World has included the option to find yourself a comfortable spot on the floor and drop into a state of meditation which increases your rate of regeneration.

 Lapwing meditating

I’m not sure yet but I would think that, along with other RPGs like Shaiya, resting in PW leaves you vulnerable to attack by nearby aggressive enemies.  Just in case, always find yourself a safe spot, removed from the action before you decide to search out that higher plane.

Mounts

Mounts are a major part of this MMORPG, more-so than in other similar games, because of its emphasis on flight. To reach certain places and battle certain enemies, classes other than the winged elves need to be able to fly. This is where a variety of flying mounts comes in. As well as flying mounts, there are also regular land-based mounts which greatly increase the rider’s movement speed and have the added bonus of looking really cool!

Having only played for a few days, mounts are only a distant possibility for me so every time I see one run/fly past it’s an exciting new treat. These are the mounts I’ve seen so far:

• Horses in various colours
• Manta ray
• Giant (blue) crow
• A white elephant with red and gold saddle and trimmings
• Phoenix
  
  
  
• A wolf which looks very similar to the blood wolf mount in Shaiya. I won’t speculate on which came first or whether one was copied from the other. I will say that I prefer the Shaiya mount though.

  

 

 

Perfect World wolf mount                            Shaiya wolf mount

NOTE: The majority of the pictures used in this article were taken by me.  Any others were found through Google Images.  If you see a picture that you’re not happy about, leave a comment and I’ll get back to you.

Click on the post title to read a detailed review and information guide complete with screenshots.